drilling for sweet on Valentine's

Yesterday, Valentine's Day, I tapped the sugar maple tree, using a brace (a hand crank device to clamp in and turn the bit) and a 7/16 inch bit to make the 1 1/2 inch-deep hole. The spout goes into the hole and sap comes out when it's below freezing at night and warm during the day. I learned to do this from my father-in-law.

sap flows

First you feel it in your bones, that feeling that winter is on the way out. Then you look for days warming up to the 40s and nights still going down in the 20s. I reflect on the traditions this brings together--Ivan and Della making a business of it, my dad with the land and the set of bits. I choose the 7/16 inch, the one sticking out closest to camera. Into that hole will go the spout.All of this is to no avail unless you grin and bear the cold and get going. I'm early this year. I look up to locate the hole under a large bough. The sap didn't flow before I got the bucket on the hook. My hands were getting stiff by then. Finally, on the last shot, I got a drip falling into the pail.

sugar camp done

We have decamped the maple sugar operation. The first boil started at 3:45 p.m., Feb. 19. Eight gallons of sap from the one tap of the one tree has produced about 24 ounces of syrup. The earliest is best, grade A. The Feb. 27 vintage looks good but check out the ton of sediment. The last batch will put sugar on your flapjacks but has heavy overtones of wood and earth. We're having a pancake breakfast to test them in a week.

boil it down

So far our young maple has produced 384 oz. or 3 gal. of sap. Now we're boiling it down to to 9.6 oz. of syrup, which is a ratio of 40 to 1. As it gets thicker the temperature and density go up--the correct way to know when you are done. We have a 1000-watt hot plate behind the barn turned on high. What you see here is the final 2.5 inches in the pan. When it gets low I have to watch that it doesn't "burn."

tap the maple

Yesterday Joel came out after work and helped me tap the sugar maple. We used grandpa's brace and bit. As soon as the spout was tapped snug the sap almost flowed. Here's how you can do it.